Four Thought

John Connell speaks about how the connection to land and animals can heal the modern urban soul

John Connell returned home to his native Ireland after years abroad living and working in cities. He had experienced a breakdown and was in the depths of depression.

For an urbane young man a return to the farm that he grew up in could have been seen as a failure but it turned out to be anything but.

The birth of a calf and the life cycle of his family's cattle helped to show him how he could finally quieten the demons of his past.

Recorded in front of a live audience at the WOMAD music festival in August 2018.

Mari Kalkun comes alive in forests. The folk singer and Estonian native has been inspired and revived by them from a young age.

Estonians are connected to the forest in a way most other nations can barely imagine, she says, they are a part of both the birth and death of it's citizens.

Mari's ethereal music reflects this special bond and takes the listener to a calmer place and suggests that if we listen hard enough the forest might just speak.

Recorded in-front of a live audience at WOMAD world music festival.

Clare Pooley was a working mum and loved a bottle of wine...or three. Her love of drink began to get in the way of her love of life.

The realisation that alcohol was no longer her best-friend caused her to break up with it.

This wasn't easy she says in a society that celebrates, commiserates and procrastinates using alcohol.

But the ensuing breakup showed her how being sober can be just as much fun if not more than being drunk.

Sophie Howe explains how she tries to get politicians in Wales to put the future first.

Sophie is the first Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, an independent role in which she has to keep politicians thinking about the future. In this talk, recorded in front of an enthusiastic audience at the Volcano Theatre in Swansea, she explains how she does it. And as she does, she reveals how her own history motivates her to think about future generations, and how politics can better serve them.

Producer: Giles Edwards.

Ann John examines the current discussion around young people's mental health.

A Professor of Public Health and Psychiatry at Swansea University, Ann thinks the current focus is welcome in many ways, but also poses dangers. Is it possible, she asks, that it could turn into a moral panic - like the one she remembers when she first became a doctor, around the MMR vaccine? Do we risk medicalising normal human emotions? And who is getting access to treatment - is it those who most need care, or those with easiest access to services?

Ann identifies mixed messaging around young people's mental health - on the one hand we want young people to be emotionally literate; on the other we criticise a 'snowflake' generation. And she argues that social media - so often the fall guy for young people's mental health problems - actually offers upsides, too.

Producer: Giles Edwards.

Author Lloyd Markham shares a dystopian tale about belonging - and not belonging.

Recorded at Swansea's Volcano Theatre as part of the BBC's Biggest Weekend, Lloyd has the audience hanging on every word as he shares the story of his relationship with the Department for Work and Pensions.

Producer: Giles Edwards.

Belfast blogger Gemma Louise Bond better known as 'That Belfast Girl' thinks about how we grieve the end of friendship, why we have no words or traditions for this process when it can completely change our lives.

For many of us our friends have been around longer than our partners. They have helped us grow and been present at the most important times in our lives, yet when they leave we rarely talk about it.

"It's not a 'break up", Bond say, "we don't eat ice cream to mourn it, in-fact as a society we have no traditions to process it at all" "Isn't it about time we valued the amazing things friendships bring to our lives and think about how we mourn when they end?".

Maura Campbell asks us to think differently about difference, she argues now is the time to retire the village 'idiot' and think about the language around learning disabilities.

For example; the stereotypes of people with autism as cold, emotionless automatons and the medical community using words like 'diagnosis', 'risk' and 'symptoms' all have a negative narrative.

But what about the positives? These often include honesty, directness, loyalty, a strong sense of natural justice, excellent memory, expertise in intense interests, originality, creativity and independent thinking.

Everyday we use words to describe people's intelligence without thinking about it. 'idiot', 'moron' and 'imbecile' are in-fact the clinical terms used to describe learning disabilities but they are most frequently used to call someone a fool.

Perhaps, Maura Campbell suggests, we could think of people as different but not less.

Actress and comedian Diona Doherty says we need a big rethink about who we allow to make a speech at weddings. She tells us why if we want true equality it all starts with letting the bridesmaids speak.

Recorded in front of a live audience at the Palm House in Belfast as part of the BBC Music Biggest Weekend Festival 2018.

Presenter: Olly Mann

Chris Warhurst reveals how good looking you are may determine whether you get a job.

Should looks be relevant to your employment prospects if you're a plumber or a shop assistant? As Director of the Institute for Employment Research at the University of Warwick, Professor Chris Warhurst has spent much of his career examining trends in the labour market. He discusses whether 'aesthetic labour' is becoming an established form of discrimination in the work place and asks whether 'lookism' can be addressed in the law.

Producer: Peter Snowdon.